- Bulgaria: Radev resigns, clearing path to run for parliament
Source: Politico
“Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said Monday he would resign ahead of snap parliamentary elections, paving the way for him to participate in the upcoming legislative vote. ‘Today is the last time I address you as president,’ Radev said in a televised address to the nation, adding he would formally resign on Tuesday. Although he did not explicitly say he would run in the parliamentary elections, expected to be held in the coming months, his speech strongly hinted he would do so. … Speculation has swirled for weeks that Radev, who was elected president in 2016 and again in 2021, could resign his post to throw his hat in the ring. For many Bulgarians he has been the sole political constant amid a constant churn of governments.” (01/19/26)
- Syria: Regime, SDF trade accusations over ceasefire violations, IS group prisoners
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“The Syrian government and Kurdish forces traded accusations on Monday over the fate of Islamic State (IS) group prisoners held in Kurdish-run facilities, as Syria’s army deployed in the north and east under a recent deal. Despite the deal, the government and the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) traded blame Monday for fresh attacks the military said killed three soldiers, as well as accusations over the fate of Islamic State (IS) group prisoners in Kurdish-run jails. Following continued clashes, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and US President Donald Trump discussed developments in Syria in a phone call on Monday evening, the Syrian presidency said.” (01/19/26)
- Gold and silver prices hit high after Trump’s latest tariff threat
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Gold and silver prices hit record highs but share prices fell on Monday as investors reacted to the threat by US President Donald Trump to impose fresh tariffs on eight European countries opposed to his proposed takeover of Greenland. The price of gold touched $4,689.39 (£3,499) an ounce on Monday, while silver rose to a peak of $94.08 an ounce. Precious metals are seen as safer assets to hold in times of uncertainty, and the prices of both gold and silver have soared over the past year. But stock markets in Europe fell as investors worried over the latest increase in geopolitical tensions.” (01/19/26)
- EU pols fantasize about banning nudification apps following Grok moral panic
Source: Politico
“The European Commission is exploring a ban on artificial intelligence-powered apps that undress [sic] people online in the wake of abusive content generated through X’s Grok. European Parliament lawmakers last week launched a call — first reported by POLITICO — to ban apps and tools that allow users to generate fake intimate images of individuals without consent under the bloc’s flagship AI law.” [editor’s note: If it is a fake image, it is not an image of a real individual — and in what universe does creating an image of someone violate their rights anyway? It neither picks their pockets nor breaks their legs. And no such ban would be effective in any case – TLK]
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-looks-ban-nudification-apps-under-blocs-ai-law
- Back-scratching bovine leads scientists to reassess intelligence of cows
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Scientists have been forced to rethink the intelligence of cattle after an Austrian cow named Veronika displayed an impressive – and until now undocumented – knack for tool use. Witgar Wiegele, an organic farmer and baker from a small town in Carinthia near the Italian border, keeps Veronika as a pet and noticed that she occasionally played with sticks and used them to scratch her body. Wiegele said Veronika began playing with pieces of wood years ago, then worked out how to scratch herself with sticks. He said she also recognised family members’ voices and hurried to meet them when they called. … Word soon got around and before long a video clip of the cow’s behaviour reached biologists in Vienna who specialise in animal intelligence. They immediately grasped the importance of the footage. ” (01/19/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jan/19/back-scratching-cow-veronika-bovine-intelligence
- Russia: American sentenced to five years for illegally transporting weapon
Source: CBS News
“Russia has sentenced an American man to five years in prison for illegally transporting weapons, a court said Monday, noting that a rifle was found on his yacht after it docked in the port city of Sochi last June. Russian media said he smuggle[d] the weapons [sic] on his private yacht from July 2024 – June 2025. … According to the court, the man sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It cited him as saying he’d met a Russian woman online and decided to visit her and that he didn’t know he was forbidden to keep a weapon on his yacht while it was docked in Russia.” (01/19/26)
- US Catholic cardinals urge Trump regime to embrace a moral compass in foreign policy
Source: News4Jax
“Three U.S. Catholic cardinals urged the Trump administration on Monday to use a moral compass in pursuing its foreign policy, saying U.S. military action in Venezuela, threats of acquiring Greenland and cuts in foreign aid risk bringing vast suffering instead of promoting peace. In a joint statement, Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington and Joseph Tobin of Newark, N.J., warned that without a moral vision, the current debate over Washington’s foreign policy was mired in ‘polarization, partisanship, and narrow economic and social interests.’ … The statement was unusual and marked the second time in as many months that members of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy have asserted their voice against a Trump administration many believe isn’t upholding the basic tenets of human dignity. In November, the entire U.S. conference of Catholic bishops condemned the administration’s mass deportation of migrants and ‘vilification’ of them in the public discourse.” (01/19/26)
- Hands off Greenland!
Source: spiked
by Brendan O’Neill“It’s hard to say who comes out worse in the war of words over Greenland. Is it President Trump, who has flagrantly abandoned his promise to the American people to wean Washington off its vain, destructive meddling in world affairs? Or is it the leaders of Europe, who expect us to buy that they are overnight converts to the cause of sovereignty, despite having spent years ravaging sovereignty across our continent? On one side, a president whose commitment to the ideals of sovereignty turned out to be thin indeed; on the other, leaders who never had any such commitment. … What is at risk of being lost in this global spat is the rights of the Greenlandic people themselves. Most importantly, their unshakeable sovereign right to determine the destiny of their nation as they see fit.” (01/19/26)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Was Right about the US Government
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“What will be scrupulously avoided in the mainstream press today — Martin Luther King, Jr., Day — will be what King pointed out about the U.S. government — that it is ‘the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.’ Of course, that statement is as true today as it was in 1967. When it comes to violence, including killings, there is no doubt that the U.S. government has made America Number 1. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, that is not something to be proud of.” (01/19/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/01/19/martin-luther-king-jr-was-right-about-the-u-s-government/
- The Scourge of Credentialism
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Roman Kireev“Wherever one observes the transformation of society into one where access to economic opportunity is increasingly contingent upon credentials, one sees the unmistakable hallmark of state interference with the spontaneous order of the market. The moment violence interposes itself between man and his capacity to labor, trade, and create, he no longer lives in a market but under a system of privilege. Protection, in the statist sense, is not about safeguarding the individual; it is about disabling him. Take the case of a man offering surgical services: if he proves himself competent—through outcomes, patient satisfaction, and reputation — that is the only proof the market needs. … Yet, under a statist regime, incompetence is protected by the very credentials meant to eliminate it.” (01/19/26)
- Reviving the Idea of Mini-Cities
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen“In The Machinery of Freedom, David Friedman floats the idea of large cities decentralizing by creating ‘subcity governments, complete with mini-mayors, [and] controlling areas with populations of no more than 100,000. These governments should take over the provision of police protection, schooling, and many other governmental services.’ He notes that for any big city run by Democrats that are in states run by Republicans, the state government would have incentive to push for this (they’d likely also have the power to do it): some parts of the city would become Republican subcities. I find the idea intriguing, though, for other reasons.” (01/19/26)
https://prosociallibertarians.substack.com/p/reviving-the-idea-of-mini-cities
- A Dream of Freedom: The Enlightenment’s Unfinished Business
Source: The Daily Economy
by Nikolai G Wenzel“The American Founding launched a revolutionary idea: rights exist first, and government exists to secure them. It’s beautiful, transformative … and perpetually unfinished.” (01/19/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/a-dream-of-freedom-the-enlightenments-unfinished-business/
- Zionist Billionaires Openly Acknowledge Manipulating The US Government
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Speaking together at the Israeli-American Council Summit on Saturday, billionaire Zionist megadonors Miriam Adelson and Haim Saban strongly implied that they are engaged in some extremely shady activities to manipulate the US government in advancement of Israeli interests. There’s a guy I follow on Twitter named Chris Menahan who’s always posting clips from Zionist events which might otherwise go unnoticed, frequently turning up jarring admissions from pro-Israel operatives who tend to loosen their lips a bit when addressing an audience of like-minded individuals. I recently cited a clip he spotted featuring former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz decrying the way social media has allowed the public to view evidence of Israeli atrocities in Gaza. Menahan has spotlighted some very revealing moments from Adelson and Saban, both of whom are dual US-Israeli citizens, and both of whom have provided funding to the Israeli-American Council (IAC).” (01/19/25)
- What Spheres of Influence Are — and Aren’t
Source: Foreign Policy
by Stephen M WaltThere’s lots of talk about ‘spheres of influence’ these days, largely in response to the latest U.S. National Security Strategy, the Trump regime’s recent actions in Venezuela, and its renewed efforts to take over Greenland. The idea that great powers should exercise unchallenged sway in their own ‘neighborhoods’ is also consistent with U.S. President Donald Trump’s belief that strong leaders of strong countries should run the world and cut deals with each other, without worrying about international law, universal moral principles, or other idealistic notions. Unfortunately, both those who embrace spheres of influence and those who oppose them may not fully grasp their place in world politics. In the real world, they are neither an outmoded practice that can be eliminated nor an effective way to minimize great-power competition.” (01/19/26)
- Should Latin America Adopt the Dollar?
Source: Independent Institute
by Jane Shaw Stroup“A surge in scientific paper retractions exposes flaws in peer review, rising paper mills, and growing concerns about bias, error detection, and research integrity.” (01/19/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/19/retraction-crisis/
- The US-Israel Hybrid War Against Iran
Source: Common Dreams
by Jeffrey D Sachs & Sybil Fares“The question is not if the US and Israel will attack Iran, but when. In the nuclear age, the US refrains from all-out war, since it can easily lead to nuclear escalation. Instead, the US and Israel are waging war against Iran through a combination of crushing economic sanctions, targeted military strikes, cyberwarfare, stoking unrest, and unrelenting misinformation campaigns. This combination strategy is called ‘hybrid warfare.’ … for more than a quarter century, the US and Israeli militaries and intelligence agencies have laid waste to a region of hundreds of millions of people, blocked economic development, created terror and mass refugee movements, and have nothing to show for it beyond the chaos itself.” (01/19/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-israel-iran-venezuela
- Phase farce: No way “Board of Peace” replaces reality in Gaza
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Paul R Pillar“There is no ceasefire, no aid, no Hamas disarmament, IDF withdrawal or stabilization force. Just a lot of talk about Trump-run panels with little buy-in.” (01/19/26)
- Scott Adams was the man who interrogated reality and made it talk
Source: Fox News Forum
by Greg Gutfeld“They say when you’re born, you come into life with no instruction manual. If we’re lucky, we inherit a good set of parents, who set us up with good habits and sound thinking. We might pursue a religious practice, embrace an education, and learn to think for ourselves. Others might not be so lucky. Anxious and unsure, we turn to other things to make sense of reality: drugs, alcohol, sex or easy money. Without a set of instructions, we rely on what we think is our operating system: the ego. And we protect it with all our might. … I came across Scott Adams accidentally, but it couldn’t have come at a better time for me.” (01/19/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/greg-gutfeld-scott-adams-man-who-interrogated-reality-made-talk
- How to Understand Trump’s Obsession With Greenland
Source: The Atlantic
by Eliot A Cohen“The Greenland episode, disgraceful and shameful as it is, should be seen in the context of Trump’s other foreign-policy escapades — the capturing of Nicolás Maduro; the bombing of the Iranian nuclear program; the attempt to rebuild and reorient war-shattered Gaza; the on-again, off-again relationships with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky; the tariff bazookas that get downgraded to squirt guns with China. Erratic as the president sounds, the Trumpian worldview is comprehensible and even, in some respects, predictable. Trump is an ignorant man; unlike many other would-be or actual dictators, he does not read books and has difficulty writing more than a few badly spelled sentences on social media. But he does intuit certain truths, and one must give him credit for those, because he is not stupid and they animate his policy.” (01/19/26)
- Trump Administration Should Listen to MLK’s Wisdom
Source: OtherWords
by Dedrick Asante-Muhammad“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words from his ‘Beyond Vietnam’ speech still ring true: ‘When machines and computers, profit motives, and property rights are considered more important than people,’ he warned, ‘the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.’ Those words, delivered in 1967, still summarize today’s political moment. Instead of putting the lives of working Americans first, our leaders in Congress and the White House have prioritized advancing corporate profits and wealth concentration, slashing government programs meant to advance upward mobility, and deploying military forces across the country, increasing distrust and tension. This historic regression corresponds with a recessionary environment for Black America in particular. That’s what my organization, the Joint Center, found in our report, State of the Dream 2026: From Regression to Signs of a Black Recession.” (01/19/25)
https://otherwords.org/dr-kings-warnings-seem-more-prescient-than-ever/
- Trump’s “Great Healthcare Plan” Has Promise but Should Add More Freedom for Americans
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“The Trump administration unveiled the outlines of a health care reform plan last week and, surprisingly for any policy proposal these days, it contains some decent ideas that would empower individuals instead of bureaucrats. Unsurprisingly, though, ‘The Great Healthcare Plan’ doesn’t really undo the bad government interventions and restrictions that limit choice and raise costs. The plan might offer some improvement over what we have, but it should be a lot better. In fact, legislation that would greatly improve the plan has already been presented to Congress.” (01/19/26)
- As Trump’s Greenland Threat Grows, Europe Begins to Find Its Voice
Source: Washington Monthly
by Tamar Jacoby“It has taken European leaders nearly a year to recognize what they were up against in Donald Trump. The 47th president has been browbeating and insulting them since he returned to the White House. He has called Europe a ‘decaying’ continent led by ‘weak,’ ‘incompetent’ people who ‘are not doing a good job,’ and his administration has vowed to ‘cultivate resistance’ to continental governments, replacing them with far-right populists. Still, most European leaders have been afraid to push back, wary of alienating the great power that has guaranteed the continent’s security and prosperity for over 80 years. But this dynamic appears to be changing as Trump ratchets up his threats to take over Greenland — the autonomous territory of a loyal NATO member — either ‘the easy way’ or ‘the hard way,’ with the use of force.” (01/19/26)
- How to Not Be a Fascist
Source: The Dispatch
by Nathan Beacom“The 1920s were an era in which everything seemed up for grabs. Critics left and right declared the liberal consensus dead. But Aurel Kolnai stood in the center, not falling to the right or to the left of extremism. As certain voices today sing tunes from the hymnals of a century back, it is worth looking at this forgotten philosopher, who fought for human dignity in the face of ideology. The fascists and communists of the 1920s were not all crazed lunatics; many of them were simply conservatives or progressives who took the wrong road, who, step-by-step, were desensitized to their own radicalization. Kolnai shows us how we can retain our balance.” (01/19/26)
- Reason Roundtable, 01/19/26
- The Political Orphanage, 01/19/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“MLK and Color Blindness.” (01/19/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/mlk-and-color-blindness
- Finding Freedom, 01/19/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Rebuilding America’s Broken Political System with Travis Misurell.” (01/19/26)
- Rising, 01/19/26
Source: The Hill
“MLK Jr.’s true legacy: defiance in the face of despair: Lindsey Granger.” (01/19/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5691690-rising-january-19-2026/
- (Re)Imagining Liberty, episode 97
Source: (Re)Imagining Liberty
“The Right’s Mainstreaming of Antisemitism (w/ Elad Nehorai).” (01/19/26)